The two airlines, which plan to merge by the end of the year and call themselves International Airlines Group (IAG), would not, however, pursue all 12 targets, narrowed down from an original list of 40, Mr Walsh told a press conference in India.

"This is just to give us a focus. We have not had any discussions with any airlines. There is nothing going on at the moment," he said.

Separately, The Financial Times yesterday cited Mr Walsh as saying that some of the targets would be ready to merge with or buy almost immediately, though laws on foreign ownership would make it hard to buy some of the airlines on the list.

The list includes budget airlines and full carriers in emerging markets, but he declined to name the groups it was interested in, the FT reported.